Month: December 1992

A parliamentary committee says the public does not know enough about the Federal Government’s scheme for data-matching between agencies, the LEAN scheme.

LEAN stands for Law Enforcement Access Network. It aims to enable agencies to link data held by other agencies in an attempt to combat fraud. The main two databases are land titles and company information. These can be accessed by the public, but the LEAN scheme will enable agencies to access them in more comprehensive ways. Searches can be done matching people’s names, not just on land or company description.

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Banking, Finance and Public Administration said in a report tabled this week (week ends sat dec19) that it “”has some major qualifications about the facility and the way in which it is being developed”.
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It seems far more appropriate for migrants becoming citizens of Australia to swear allegiance to Australia and its people that to the Queen of Australia who live half way accross the world and whose loyalties are first to Britain and then to the Commonwealth countries. Cabinet’s decision last week to change the Citizenship Act to reflect this is therefore welcome. The new oath will be: “”From thsi time forward, (under God) I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey.” The existing oath is: “”I swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Australia, her heirs and successors according to law, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Australia and fulfil my duties as an Australian citizen.”

It must seem especially silly for migrants from Commonwealth countries to unswear their allegiance to Queen Elizabeth as the Queen of whatever country they come from and to reswear it as Queen Elizabeth of Australia. Moreover, it seems sensible to allow the words “”under God” to be omitted if the new citizen so chooses. Many people are not theists and the present insistence on an oath might lessen its value among non-theists.

The reaction was predictably mixed and took fairly standard forms. The Leader of the Opposition, John Hewson, said: “”This won’t do much to help the one million unemployed get jobs in the this recession.” Very true, but irrelevant. Getting unemployed Australians to work is important; indeed it is the most important task of government right now. But it is not the only task. Surely, the Australian community is intelligent enough and mature enough to think about more than one issue at a time.
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The Treasurer, John Dawkins, should be wary of allowing Canadian media enterpreneur Conrad Black to increase his company’s share of the Fairfax Group from 15 per cent to 25 per cent. Mr Black’s application is being considered by the Foreign Investment Review Board. The board has only advisory power and the decision ultimately is in the hand of Mr Dawkins. The board, which advises on general considerations of national interest, has a record of recommending in favour of more than 95 per cent of foreign investment proposals in the past. That is largely because foreign investment in Australia has been generally in the national interest. In the case of Mr Black’s proposal, however, there are factors which suggest to the contrary.

Unlike much valuable foreign investment, Mr Black’s investment would not be of otherwise unavailable capital for a new venture. There is plenty of existing Australian capital available if Fairfax were to seek it, as was proved by the public float a year ago. Shares were then issued at $1.20. The float was fully subscribed and the price is now around $1.60. Further, there is no evidence that Fairfax would gain new technology or new expertise not otherwise available to it or not now being put into the group. New expertise and new technology is another important reason for seeking foreign investment.
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Gary Johns, the parliamentary secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister, Brian Howe, has suggested reducing the retirement age for men from 65 to 60 to help unemployment. He says, also, that it is inequitable to enable women to get the pension at 60 while men have to wait till they are 65. There is some truth in the latter proposition, by it can be met equally by raising the female pension age to 65 than by reducing the male pension. The former proposition has no merit. It is a costly and inefficient plan. It is likely to cost $725 million a year, and there is no guarantee that for every old person retiring earlier that a young person will get a job. More likely, companies will not replace many of those who leave.

Australia needs skilled labour, so it seems silly to encourage the experienced to leave their job for government support just so a younger person can leave government support for a job.

Mr Johns is right when he says that something must be done in the face of continuing high unemployment. But shuffling dependency on the government from the young to the aged is not the answer. There are other more effective and attractive solutions than taking experienced 60-to-65-year olds out of the workforce. This will only lower industy’s productivity and competitiveness. The government should instead make the employment of youth more attractive by reducing high award wages and conditions, cutting payroll tax and cutting business overheads. It should also cut immigration during the recession.
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When the US calls, Australia usually snaps to attention. This was certainly the case with Vietnam and the Gulf War when Australia snapped to attention a little too smartly. Yet on the occasion of the US asking for Australian troops for Somalia we have dithered. On this occasion Australia should have responded to with alacrity. The former Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, virtually asked the US to ask us to send troops to the Gulf where they would be engaged in a war. Yet now, when Australian troops are needed to ensure food gets to starving Somalians we are dithering.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Gareth Evans, told the Senate last week that the US had asked Australia to contribute. “”The Government is considering various options in this respect and decisions will be taken shortly. I’m not in a position, however, to indicate right now what our reaction will be,” he said. He said the disarmament part of operation would be difficult, dangerous and perhaps protracted. The famine relief part should be over within two or three months.
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At last an Australian Prime Minister has recognised who was responsible for the act of dispossession of the Aboriginal people. The statement by Paul Keating this week was a leap not taken by the two of his predecessors who did more than other Prime Ministers for Aboriginal people: Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser. Whitlam recognised the appalling plight of Aborigines in Australia: their lower standards of health, education and housing. He poured money in to rectify it, but with sadly little effect. Fraser recognised the need for Aboriginal possession of land and passed the Land Rights Act. Sadly, it was restricted to the Northern Territory.

Me Keating has gone a leap further in recognising who did the dispossessing and the destruction of traditional lifestyle and therefore who has the moral responsibility to do the repairing. He said, “”We brought the diseases and the alcohol. We committed the murder. We took the children from their mothers. We practised discrimination and exclusion.” Mr Keating quite rightly cautioned against the destructive emotion of guilt.
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